What is Love (Part III)

Love is a critical, reasonable and principled decision…

             “Love is simply a humanistic decision confined with a rational and emotional aspect of the human person” (Mother Theresa, 1992, p. 23). Humans inevitably love and mostly, he loves with his guiding emotions. Man simply adheres to the reality “heart over mind” in which emotions are the guiding principle. Perhaps, this is  a really that never fades especially I the context of the teens and youngsters. They love or we love rather because of this what we called “unexplained emotions.” We put the feelings  of joy, “kilig moments and reality, love is also a feeling of sadness and sorrow. Perhaps, this is are reasons why others became miserable, useless, and the worst, become crazy. Emotions are not being denoted in the aspect of love, but it must not always be the standard. In a more rational approach, love is a critical, reasonable and principled decision. Love must not always subjective  to what we feel or how do  we feel, but it must be a love anchored with rational principles and reasonable decisions. The three following write-ups will show how love works in a more critical and rational manner.

Just like Mother Theresa…

            “Nagpari ako dahil desisyon kong magpari! Sa kabila ng mga pagdurusang kaakibat ng bokasyon na ito ay pinagdesisyonan ko paring magpari!” Those are the very  words that  I could not forget from Fr. “Jojo” Cabanting. He is simply Fr. Badjao as  being called by his friends and relatives. Fr. Badjao is my townmate in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija. He is a priest assigned in St. Jerome Parish, Brgy. Baloc, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija. Fr. Jojo is such a simple priest. He inspired so much in my vocation to the priesthood and even if I went out from the seminary, he is still there to support and to all me “brother”. In him, I learned and realized the true nature of love—that love is such a critical, reasonable and principled decision. He is just like the male character of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, India in which the said to be “living saint” touched many lives, and that is Fr. Jojo. He touches life in his own unexpected way. He became a priest not merely because of the incentives or the popularity that he may gain in joining such vocation, but, he became a priest because it is his decision. He prayed to God that He may give to Fr. Badjao the blessings and mercies and God heard his prayers.

            Perhaps, the story of Fr. Jojo is a typical of the true nature of love in which it needs a brave mind and heart in decision making, in opening one’s heart and giving one’s life..